Sex–related self–concepts, cognitive styles and cultural values of traditionality–modernity as predictors of general and domain–specific sexism

Previous studies have determined that masculinity, femininity, need for closure and authoritarianism are significant predictors of sexism. The present study attempted to integrate these variables in order to better understand the nature of general ambivalent sexism and workplace–specific sexism in Singapore. Chinese traditionality and Chinese modernity were specifically examined as potential predictors of sexism. Robust results from hierarchical regressions indicated that these indigenous cultural variables were highly important in predicting general and workplace–specific sexism. Although masculinity and need for closure were unrelated to sexism, participant sex, femininity and authoritarianism significantly predicted sexist attitudes towards women. Most important, Chinese values were found to add significant incremental validity in predicting sexist attitudes beyond what was accounted by the aforementioned predictors. Chinese traditionality significantly predicted sexist attitudes towards women, but Chinese modernity was unrelated to sexism. Implications of these findings were discussed.     

Is Traditional Gender Ideology Associated with Sex-Typed Mate Preferences? A Test in Nine Nations

Social role theory (Eagly, Wood, & Diekman, 2000) predicts that traditional gender ideology is associated with preferences for qualities in a mate that reflect a conventional homemaker-provider division of labor. This study assessed traditional gender ideology using Glick and Fiske's (1996, 1999) indexes of ambivalent attitudes toward women and men and related these attitudes to the sex-typed mate preferences of men for younger mates with homemaker skills and of women for older mates with breadwinning potential. Results from a nine-nation sample revealed that, to the extent that participants had a traditional gender ideology, they exhibited greater sex-typing of mate preferences. These relations were generally stable across the nine nations.     

NOT WANTED IN THE INBOX!: EVALUATIONS OF UNSOLICITED AND HARASSING E-MAIL

This study was designed as a first step to explore sexual harassment in the electronic domain. One hundred six students read 10 e-mail messages ranging from jokes to spam to a sexual proposition from a stranger and rated them on an offensiveness evaluative scale. Participants also completed social desirability and attitudes toward sexual harassment scales. Messages with sexual content were generally perceived less favourably than e-mail without such content. Gender was critical to the experience of receiving many types of e-mail messages. When the e-mail content was perceived to be offensive, women found it more offensive than did men. Marked gender differences emerged in response to the sexual proposition, which women perceived to be extremely offensive while men rated it as somewhat enjoyable. Tolerance of sexual harassment and familiarity with a type of e-mail were also related to lower offensiveness evaluations for some messages.